Professional Documents
Culture Documents
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the suburb of Melbourne, Australia, see Research, Victoria. For the Wikipedia policy, see Wikipedia:Original research. For information on using Wikipedia for research, see Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia. This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)
Olin Levi Warner, Research helping the torch of knowledge (1896). Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C. Research can be defined as the search for knowledge or as any systematic investigation to establish facts. The primary purpose for applied research (as opposed to basic research) is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the
advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe. Research can use the scientific method, but need not do so.[citation needed] Scientific research relies on the application of the scientific method, a harnessing of curiosity. This research provides scientific information and theories for the explanation of the nature and the properties of the world around us. It makes practical applications possible. Scientific research is funded by public authorities, by charitable organizations and by private groups, including many companies. Scientific research can be subdivided into different classifications according to their academic and application disciplines. Artistic research, also seen as 'practice-based research', can take form when creative works are considered both the research and the object of research itself. It is the debatable body of thought which offers an alternative to purely scientific methods in research in its search for knowledge and truth. Historical research is embodied in the scientific method. The phrase my research is also used loosely to describe a person's entire collection of information about a particular subject.
Contents
[hide]
1 Etymology 2 Research processes o 2.1 Scientific research 3 Artistic Research 4 Historical method 5 Research methods 6 Publishing 7 Research funding 8 Research culture 9 See also 10 References
[edit] Etymology
The word research derives from the French recherche, from rechercher, to search closely where "chercher" means "to search".
Main article: Scientific method Generally, research is understood to follow a certain structural process. Though step order may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following steps are usually part of most formal research, both basic and applied:
Formation of the topic Hypothesis Conceptual definitions Operational definition Gathering of data Analysis of data Test, revising of hypothesis Conclusion, iteration if necessary
A common misunderstanding is that by this method a hypothesis could be proven or tested. Generally a hypothesis is used to make predictions that can be tested by observing the outcome of an experiment. If the outcome is inconsistent with the hypothesis, then the hypothesis is rejected. However, if the outcome is consistent with the hypothesis, the experiment is said to support the hypothesis. This careful language is used because researchers recognize that alternative hypotheses may also be consistent with the observations. In this sense, a hypothesis can never be proven, but rather only supported by surviving rounds of scientific testing and, eventually, becoming widely thought of as true (or better, predictive), but this is not the same as it having been proven. A useful hypothesis allows prediction and within the accuracy of observation of the time, the prediction will be verified. As the accuracy of observation improves with time, the hypothesis may no longer provide an accurate prediction. In this case a new hypothesis will arise to challenge the old, and to the extent that the new hypothesis makes more accurate predictions than the old, the new will supplant it.
textual criticism. Though items may vary depending on the subject matter and researcher, the following concepts are usually part of most formal historical research:
Identification of origin date Evidence of localization Recognition of authorship Analysis of data Identification of integrity Attribution of credibility
Exploratory research, which structures and identifies new problems Constructive research, which develops solutions to a problem Empirical research, which tests the feasibility of a solution using empirical evidence
The research room at the New York Public Library, an example of secondary research in progress. Research can also fall into two distinct types:
Primary research (collection of data that does not already exist) Secondary research (summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research)
In social sciences and later in other disciplines, the following two research methods can be applied, depending on the properties of the subject matter and on the objective of the research:
Qualitative research (understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior) Quantitative research (systematic empirical investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships)
Research is often conducted using the hourglass model Structure of Research[1]. The hourglass model starts with a broad spectrum for research, focusing in on the required
information through the methodology of the project (like the neck of the hourglass), then expands the research in the form of discussion and results.
[edit] Publishing
Academic publishing describes a system that is necessary in order for academic scholars to peer review the work and make it available for a wider audience. The 'system', which is probably disorganised enough not to merit the title, varies widely by field, and is also always changing, if often slowly. Most academic work is published in journal article or book form. In publishing, STM publishing is an abbreviation for academic publications in science, technology, and medicine. Most established academic fields have their own journals and other outlets for publication, though many academic journals are somewhat interdisciplinary, and publish work from several distinct fields or subfields. The kinds of publications that are accepted as contributions of knowledge or research vary greatly between fields; from the print to the electronic format. Business models are different in the electronic environment. Since about the early 1990s, licensing of electronic resources, particularly journals, has been very common. Presently, a major trend, particularly with respect to scholarly journals, is open access. There are two main forms of open access: open access publishing, in which the articles or the whole journal is freely available from the time of publication, and selfarchiving, where the author makes a copy of their own work freely available on the web.
Academic conference Advertising research Basic research Business cluster Business information Conceptual framework Creativity techniques Demonstrative evidence Due diligence Dialectical research Empirical evidence Empirical research European Charter for Researchers Internet research
Innovation Lab notebook List of fields of doctoral studies Marketing research National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA) Open research Operations research Original research Participatory action research Psychological research methods Research and development Social research
[edit] References
1. ^ Trochim, W.M.K, (2006). Research Methods Knowledge Base. 2. ^ "Research Culture in Modern University Management". http://modernuniversitymanagement.com/research-culture.html. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research" Categories: Research | Research methods Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from June 2009 | All articles needing additional references | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from August 2010 | Articles with unsourced statements from July 2010
Personal tools
Namespaces
Article Discussion
Variants Views
Read
Actions Search
Navigation
Interaction Toolbox
About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Donate to Wikipedia Help
What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Cite this page
Print/export
Languages
Aragons Asturianu
Bosanski Catal esky Corsu Dansk Deutsch Eesti Espaol Esperanto Franais Furlan Gaeilge Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia / i n uktitut slenska Italiano Ltzebuergesch Lietuvi Nederlands Norsk (bokml) Norsk (nynorsk) Occitan Polski Portugus Ripoarisch Romn Runa Simi Simple English Soran / / Srpski Srpskohrvatski / Basa Sunda Suomi Svenska Tagalog
Trke Vneto Ting Vit Winaray This page was last modified on 23 August 2010 at 21:31.